


Reunion

by starlightfury



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 04:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17073557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightfury/pseuds/starlightfury
Summary: A post-Crooked Kingdom Kanej reunion.





	Reunion

“Kaz.”

At the sound of his name, Kaz’s heart stopped. He would know that voice anywhere. He had just been hearing it in his thoughts. In fact, he wasn’t even entirely sure he hadn’t imagined it. _Inej._ He hadn’t even heard her come in. But of course not; she wasn’t known as the Wraith for nothing. Kaz swallowed, turning from his desk to see her standing by the window, silhouetted by the moonlight. It had been almost two years since he’d last seen her, since she’d left to hunt slavers. She looked older, even wiser beyond her years than she had before. Inej was more than just a sight for sore eyes; Kaz felt like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Not that he’d ever admit it.

The hollow left in his chest by her departure eased slightly. She was here.

Now, more than ever, Kaz wished he could touch Inej. He had thought about her often, hating himself for the fact that his trauma forced the one thing that actually mattered away from him, even though he knew that was far from her primary reason for leaving. Still, he hated that even though he _wanted_ to touch her, he still had to _force_ himself to do it.

He had held her hand before she left, had pushed down the memory of himself clinging to Jordie’s corpse, had pretended that he wasn’t nauseous and dizzy from the image in his mind. He remembered thinking that she was worth that awful feeling, and how for a fleeting second, he’d felt like he might fall to his knees and beg her to stay.

But Kaz Brekker didn’t beg.

So he had let her walk away.

_And now she was here._

It had been so different without her. After a few too-near misses, he’d had to admit to himself that it being Dirtyhands was more difficult without the Wraith by his side. Now that she was standing in front of him, Kaz considered asking her to stay. He didn’t think she would.

Oh, how he wanted her to.

Kaz realized that quite a few minutes had passed and he had spent them just staring at her without saying anything. Truthfully, he hadn’t known _what_ to say; he hoped she knew how glad he was to see her without him having to tell her, because he didn’t know how to say it. He rose and crossed the room, stopping a respectable distance away from her. He hesitated briefly, uncertain of what to say or do, before raising a gloved hand to her cheek to brush a loose piece of hair that had fallen from her braid out of her face. As he let his hand drop again, all he could think to ask was, “How are your parents?”

Something flickered in Inej’s eyes that Kaz couldn’t quite read, and he felt like an idiot. Two years, and the first thing he asks her when he sees her again is about her parents?

If Inej was bothered too much by it, she didn’t show it. “They’re glad to be able to see me, even if it’s only every so often.” She gave Kaz a tiny smile, reminiscent of the one she’d had on her face when her parents had arrived in Ketterdam two years ago. It made his chest ache the same way it had then. He just wanted to touch her.

* * *

 

Inej was flooded with emotion when she found herself outside the window to Kaz’s office. She could see him sitting at his desk, a pile of papers in front of him, but he seemed preoccupied with something else. For a brief moment, she wondered if he was thinking about her. Inej shook her head; he certainly had more important things to think about. She slid the window open silently and crawled through. She stood there for a moment, watching him. There were a million things she wanted to say to him, but she started with just one.

“Kaz.”

The sound of his name seemed to jolt Kaz out of his reverie. He turned in his chair to face her, and her breath caught. How could she have waited so long to come back here? She lost all train of thought under the weight of his gaze. He looked at her, and she looked back, searching his face for any sort of emotion. Kaz’s face was a mask, as usual, but she could see in his eyes that emotions were warring with each other. _What’s going on in your head, Kaz?_ she wondered. His gaze swept over her, assessing. Then he stood and limped toward her, and Inej fought a blush, suddenly acutely aware of the length of their staring match, and hoped he hadn’t been waiting for her to say something. With a gloved hand, he brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face.

“How are your parents?”

Inej was surprised that it stung to hear him ask about them and not her. She brushed it off, reminding herself that Kaz wasn’t very good at this kind of thing. “They’re glad to be able to see me, even if it’s only every so often.” She smiled at the thought of her parents. She’d gone to visit them before returning to Ketterdam. “I don’t think they’re huge fans of my escapades, though.”

“And how is that going?”

Kaz’s eyes were boring into her; she felt the urge to fidget, something unusual for her. Inej forced herself to step away, pacing slowly around the room. She could feel Kaz watching her, but she didn’t look at him. “I’ve taken out quite a few slavers. But it’s tiring to be out on the sea so much, so I thought I might take a break for a while.”

“You aren’t staying with your parents?”

“I’ll go back to them at some point. I was just wondering how the Dregs are doing without their second in command. And strange as it may seem, I actually missed Ketterdam a bit.” _I missed you._

Kaz was still watching her. “How long will you stay?”

“I haven’t really thought that far ahead,” Inej admitted. “I guess it just depends on what’s left here for me.”

“You always have a place with the Dregs, Inej.”

“I know.” Inej looked down at her feet. She wanted to tell him that wasn’t what she meant. She wished he would tell her that there was a place for her with _him_ , but she knew it was unlikely he could ever bring himself to give her what she needed.

“Inej.” Kaz’s voice was rough. Inej closed her eyes for a moment, her face still angled toward the floor. It had been so long since she had heard him say her name. She was reminded of that day at the harbor, how when he had allowed her to hold his hand, she felt a flicker of hope that he might one day allow himself to overcome his trauma, allow himself to feel again. Inej forced herself to look up, and found he had come to stand near her again. She met his gaze with wide eyes when she noticed he had removed his gloves.

“I want to do better,” he said. “I know what you need from me, and I want to give it to you. It will take a long time for me to get there, but if you’re willing to work through it with me…” Kaz spoke with more emotion than she had ever known him to allow himself to show. Inej recalled what she had said when he asked her to stay with him. _I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all._ She remembered all the times she saw something in him that she thought might mean one day he would let himself be human again. Was he finally ready to take off his armor? He reached out to her, and she gently took his hand. He went still, seeming to hold his breath. Inej watched him. He was staring down at their hands. When he had steadied himself, he looked up at her. “I know you have big plans,” he murmured, “and I know that either the armor goes or you do. But I don’t want you to go, so it has to be the armor.” His hand tightened slightly on hers. “Will you help me?”

Inej couldn’t find her voice, so she nodded.

They stood there, eyes on each other, hand in hand, until Kaz seemed to have stopped wanting to pull away. Inej allowed herself hope for their future again. They could make this work, like everything else they’ve done together. She wasn’t his second for nothing.

There would be no Dirtyhands without his Wraith.  


End file.
